Space Saving

Not this past Christmas, but the one before that (2008) Hubby gifted me with Cuisinart appliances. I only cook during my summer hiatus from school, and as it was winter and Hubby was the only chef in the kitchen, nobody even bothered to open the boxes.

My first chore this summer was to clean off the counter tops after Hubby had spent the winter / spring splattering them with gravy, tomato sauce, and sundry other disgusting things. As I was thirty minutes into de-crumbing the huge four-slice T-Fal toaster, I notice that the box on the dining room floor contained what was claimed to be a "space-saving" Cuisinart toaster, never used and consequently in no need of cleaning. Now our house is tiny and our kitchen is minuscule. Space-saving sounds good, even though the toaster is only a two-slicer. Opening the box, I found this cute little toaster, with settings on the side (not the front) so it could be stored on the counter side-ways. Space-saving, clean, new -- and Cuisinart. The still operating four-slicer could be moved to school, where the kids could toast up pop-tarts and I could do bagels . . . win / win.

Yesterday evening I called Hubby out to the kitchen to show him that I was finally using the new toaster. He looked at the full-sized microwave and Cuisinart food processor still on the counter - and the biggest Crockpot made, and suggested that I might want to swap out the microwave for the one in the office -- quite a bit smaller. "And, you know, I also gave you a food processor that Christmas."

"No, you didn't. You gave me a blender."

So Hubby pulled out the still-unopened box -- and we were both right. It was a combination food processor / blender -- and half the size of the one on the counter. Now, I love the one on the counter. My sister-in-law gave it to me, oh, maybe five years ago. It has all the blades and can hold a whole head of cabbage at one slicing. But . . . I only use it maybe four times a year. And Hubby never uses it. He still chops by hand.

"Let's open this up and see if we like it!" And we did -- and we loved it.

Yesterday was a dreary, rainy day in KC so Hubby spent the morning at the computer. I toasted some nice oatmeal bread to go with his tea -- and that toaster is twice as fast as the old one.

The toaster, the huge Crockpot (which I will never replace until it burns up), and the blender / food processor are all the same color (white). They now sit on the left-hand side of my sink and there is still some room to chop and peel on the counter tops.

I'm debating about the microwave. Hubby exploded a jar of baked beans in our big one in April -- and yesterday I cleaned all that up. I don't think a smaller microwave will keep him from making a mess (and ignoring it) but I have asked him just how clean the smaller microwave is.

Today I'm tackling the refrigerator. Ours is at least 25 years old but it still works just fine. I'd kill for an ice maker but because our kitchen is so small, we have a smaller full-size frig that just does the basic things. When I removed the crisper tray though and saw that Hubby had spilled an entire jar of honey that had seeped under the tray and then hardened, I wondered just how much a new frig would cost. I'm not sure I'll ever get all that honey removed.